Please write to NMFS in support of habitat designation

9/23/08  The National Marine Fisheries Service is recommending that the Atlantic bluefin tuna’s spawning grounds in the Gulf of Mexico be designated a federal Habitat Area of Particular Concern (HAPC). The recommendation, part of a new draft Essential Fish Habitat Amendment to the Atlantic Highly Migratory Species Fishery Management Plan, “would highlight the importance of the area for bluefin tuna spawning and provide added conservation benefits if steps are taken to reduce impacts from development activities,” says the agency.

NMFS received a joint request last year from the National Coalition for Marine Conservation (NCMC) and the Tag-a-Giant Foundation to consider establishing a new HAPC for spawning bluefin tuna in the Gulf of Mexico, the sole breeding ground for the severely depleted western Atlantic population. The HAPC would coincide with the area identified in a petition submitted to NMFS in June 2005 (by NCMC, Oceana, Blue Ocean Institute, NRDC and Monterey Bay Aquarium) and based on new electronic tagging studies by Dr. Barbara Block of Stanford University.

According to NMFS, HAPCs are intended to focus conservation efforts and bring heightened awareness to the ecological importance of special areas and their vulnerability to degradation through fishing and/or non-fishing activities. The complete EFH amendment and supporting documents are available on the NMFS web site www.nmfs.noaa.gov/sfa/hms.

Please write to NMFS in support of the bluefin HAPC.

HOW TO SUBMIT COMMENTS

Mail to:                 Chris Rilling
NMFS HMS DIvision
1315 East-West Highway
Silver Spring, MD 20910

E-mail:                  HMSEFH@noaa.gov

Fax to:                 301-427-2592

Comments will be accepted through November 18, 2008.

Tidewater Kayak Anglers Association presents:
4th Annual “Fish For Charity”
Kayak Fishing Tournament
Benfitting Project Healing Waters
When: Sept. 27, 2008

Slam Division (1st-4th)
Speckled Trout (1st-4th)
Redfish (1st-4th)
Flounder (1st-4th)
Striped Bass (1st-4th)
Divisions: Open, Species, Fly, Female, Youth

Captains Meeting Friday, Sept, 26 Lake Wright Conference Center (map)

Weigh/Check in, Awards ceremony, and Dinner @ Lake Wright Conference Center Sept. 27

CLICK HERE FOR FULL DETAILS

I received the below from Captain Chris Newsome today and thought I would pass it on to all anglers interested in saltwater fishing in Virginia this fall . Capt. Chris is a great guy and excellent guide. You can check him out here if interested

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Today marks the official start of the fall fishing season – my favorite time of year to be on the water!

I’m a little sad to see this summer go because we had some fantastic fishing.  Lots of pretty speckled trout were caught including 7 citation size fish of which 3 where over 28 inches.  We also had some big number days on puppy drum.  Our best morning produced nearly 50 redfish.  The stripers this summer where particularly fat and healthy which I attribute to the large year class of peanut bunker, the primary prey for all gamefish in the bay.  It has been many years since I’ve seen this much bait – a very encouraging sign as we head into fall!

I will be focusing my guiding out of the Middle Peninsula until late November when I will move down to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel to take advantage of the winter striper fishery.  We will be fishing out of my new Andros Permit 22 which I picked up two weeks ago from the factory in Sarasota, FL.  The boat is a fantastic fly and light tackle fishing platform with the versatility to go from the shallows to the open water of the lower Chesapeake.

The next five weeks will produce a mixed bag of stripers, specks and reds in the shallows.  If the summer is any indication, we are in for a banner fall for all three species.  Fishing the shallows of the Middle Peninsula is probably my favorite form of fishing that our region offers.  Calm water, beautiful scenery, little boat traffic and quality fishing make for a great day on the water.  By early November, the majority of puppy drum and speckled trout will have moved south but large numbers of striped bass will be traveling through the shallows eating everything that crosses their path.  We will also see stripers blitzing in open water of the bay along the Middle Peninsula during the month of November.

By the start of December, I will be focusing my efforts out of Taylor’s Landing in Little Creek which is only a 4 mile boat ride to the CBBT.  The mass of striped bass along the bridge tunnel from Thanksgiving through late winter is unbelievable.  Fish by the million under acres of feeding gulls and gannets will flood the lower bay and ocean and we’ll be there to tangle with them on fly and light tackle.  January is my favorite month to fish the CBBT because the crowds are gone and fishing is at its best.  We had many days last January where we caught over 100 stripers per trip.  There were times when we surpassed the century mark in number of fish in under 2 hours.  Late fall and winter is also the time for trophy striped bass.  We catch numerous FAT stripers over 40” during this time.  With a warm winter we will see spectacular fishing into February.

With every newsletter, I try to provide a tip on tackle or technique.  This time I will cover how I like to replace the treble hooks on my hard plastic plugs with single J-style hooks.  J-hooks have several advantages for the light tackle fisherman over trebles.  First, J-hooks cause less damage to the fish than the numerous prongs of a treble hook lure.  Not only are J-hooks safer for the fish but also for the angler during those unflattering times when you accidentally catch yourself!  Another advantage comes when it is time to untangle a lure from the net.  Less time removing hooks from fish, nets and yourself means more time fishing.  Lastly, I find very little change in hook up ratio by switching to single hooks.

By using stainless steel J-hooks, your tackle box will not get covered in rust and you’ll replace hooks less frequently.  You will want to use short shank J-hooks.  My favorite for this purpose is the Tiemco 800S.  These hooks have a large eyelet which is important to allow the hook to swing on the split ring (try extra small stainless split rigs).  The problem with these hooks is that they are only made up to size 2 (they are big for size 2 – comparable to sz 1 or 1/0 in other brands).  For larger plugs where big hooks are required, I use Mustad C68S SS.  These hooks have smaller eyes but work fine in sizes 1/0 and up.  You will find that changing to single hooks will affect the sink rate of suspending plugs like Mirrolures.  If I need a plug to sink faster, I add strips of lead tape to the bottom of the lure to adjust the sink rate.

Contact me ASAP if you are interested in booking a charter because fall dates are going fast. You can email me at: chris@bayflyfishing.com

I hope everyone has a terrific season!

Take care,
Chris

The N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries will hold three public hearings in October on a variety of proposed rules, including several impacting the red drum and pound net fisheries.

The hearings will be held:

Monday, Oct. 13, 7 p.m.
Roanoke Island Festival Park
One Festival Park
Manteo

Tuesday, Oct. 14, 7 p.m.
Agriculture Extension Building
300 Industrial Drive
New Bern

Proposed rules impacting the red drum fishery will:

·        Lengthen the annual commercial seasonal small mesh gill net attendance requirement (currently May 1 – Oct. 31) to May 1 – Nov. 30;

·        Require year-round attendance of small mesh gill nets within 200 yards of shore in the Pamlico, Pungo and Neuse rivers;

·        Require seasonal attendance of small mesh gill nets in all primary and permanent secondary nursery areas, within 50 yards of shore (except south of the N.C. 58 bridge in October and November) and in modified no-trawl areas along the Outer Banks;

·        Establish a 3,000-yard-per-vessel limit on large mesh gill net used in inshore waters;

·        Implement a June through October attendance requirement for large mesh gill nets set within 10 feet of the shore;

·        Clarify that gill nets must be set at least 200 yards from any flounder or other finfish pound net from Jan. 1 to Aug. 14 in the Albemarle Sound;

·        Require the use of circle hooks, short leaders and fixed weights when fishing at night with natural bait using large hooks (greater than 4/0) in the Pamlico Sound and its tributaries from July through September;

·        Split the annual commercial red drum harvest limit into two periods: 150,000 pounds allotted for Sept. 1 – April 30 and 100,000 pounds allotted for May 1 – Aug. 31.

The proposed rules also rewrite regulations pertaining to pound net sets to better protect sea turtles and meet objectives of the N.C. Shrimp Fishery Management Plan. The proposed rules include:

·         Limiting a pound net set to a single fishery at a time and requiring fishermen to notify Marine Patrol within 72 hours of a designation change;

·         Instructing the director of the Division of Marine Fisheries to issue proclamations establishing cleanup times between Dec. 1 and Feb. 1 when all pound nets must be removed from the waters;

·         Establishing rules for recreational shrimp pounds under the Recreational Commercial Gear License.

Other proposed rules will:

·        More fully describe the roles of the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Division of Marine Fisheries;

·        Better define proclamations, how proclamation authority is used and how the public can access proclamations;

·         Modify definitions to more specifically describe submerged aquatic vegetation for consistency with the N.C. Coastal Habitat Protection Plan and to otherwise update rules;

·         Require bait dealers to obtain a permit from the Division of Marine Fisheries to hold, sell or place into coastal waters any bait imported from outside the state;

·        Better describe no trawling areas in the Albemarle Sound and its tributaries;

·        Allow recreational fishermen to retrieve shrimp trawls by mechanical methods;

·        Extend the 48-quart recreational harvest limit for shrimp to all recreational gears;

·        Correct existing rules describing boundaries for coastal, joint and inland waters;

·        Adopt federal turtle excluder device requirements for shrimp trawls into state rule, allowing for state enforcement to improve compliance and better protect sea turtles;

·        Adopt harvest limits for American lobster to comply with Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission requirements.

Proposed rules are posted in their entirety in the North Carolina Register, Volume 23, Issue 5, pages 391- 408, posted on the Internet

Public comments will be accepted through Nov. 3 and should be submitted to Catherine Blum, rulemaking coordinator with the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries, P.O. Box 769, Morehead City, N.C. 28557, phone (252) 808-8013, fax (252) 726-0254, email catherine.blum@ncmail.net.

The N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission is scheduled to vote on the rules, upon final adoption of amendments to the Red Drum plan, at its Nov. 6-7 meeting in Kill Devil Hills. The rules could become effective as early as Feb. 1.

FINANCIAL MARKETS AND FISHERIES…
Indeed, there was much turmoil on Wall Street this week.   I won’t even begin to act like I know all or even some of the details on how we came dangerously close to a total collapse of our financial system, but what I find odd is how one of the oldest financial institutions on Wall Street went under.  The fact that a company with that much money and with so many smart people working there didn’t have a plan for this sort of thing is beyond me.

Enter the Fishery Management Council system.  For decades these councils made up primarily of commercial fishermen and recreational industry representatives have managed on or over the margins, putting their own economic well being before the overall health of stocks they were appointed to protect.

I’m a firm believer that Council and stakeholder input is critically important to the fisheries management process (I’m such a believer that I recently was appointed to the Mid Atlantic Council),  but when such input is self-serving, and ignores both the best scientific evidence and the mandate of law, NOAA Fisheries must step up and act in the greater public interest.

Fishing Reports
There’s still a bluefin bight off the Jersey Coast but it consists of mostly troll caught fish.  Lots of Mahi out there as well and they are eager to take flies and jigs.  Inshore the action really picked up this week on the bass and bluefish front.  And….  Some good albie fishing just a bit off the coast.  In the New York Bite area, we had very good false albacore concentrations.  Guys were hooking up left and right before all that east wind set in on Friday.  Still a ton of bay anchovies around, so I expect them to reappear once things settle.   The mullet are around in force.  There has been some exceptional fishing on the breaking sandbars as bass and bluefish chase the mullet in the white water.   Jamaica and Raritan Bay are uncharacteristically slow.  Still, lots of peanut bunker in both these areas, so as soon as we get some cooler weather it should go off.  Across Long Island, expect to find concentrations of both albies and bass in and around the inlets.  Out in Montauk, there were major bass blitzes last week and the albies were on fire as well.  Now is definitely the time to be hitting Montauk.  Things are picking up on the North Shore also, but mainly just schoolies.  Both Connecticut and Rhode Island have good concentrations of albies in the traditional spots.  Up in Mass it’s been hit or miss as the fall run still doesn’t seem to have taken hold yet.  Some scattered pods of albies in and around the Cape but I hear they’ve been tough.

New Jersey Fishing Reports
Capt. Bryan DiLeo from Iowa Fortune Guide service checks in with this Southern New Jersey Report.  Check it out:
“Man O Man” does it feel good to be back on the water once again. The past two weeks dished up action, both with Bass in the SJ back country as well as a good Dolphin bite offshore. I can see that the stars are aligning in the back country for what looks to be an explosive upcoming fall. On the right tides brief glimpses into the future months ahead can be seen with large schools of peanut bunker, rain bait, and mullet balling up for survival triggering mini blitzes through out the shallows. These feeding frenzies of Bluefish with Bass mixed in will soon be turning into blitzes of Bass with Bluefish mixed in, and can be found popping up unannounced at any time throughout the months ahead. September is always an interesting transitional time in the shallows when an all out Bass blitz can blow up right in front of your eyes at any time. This action, combined with the lack of summer boat traffic, often allows us the ability to stay on top of Bass for unlimited amounts of time, offering up some fast paced action. As far as the offshore scene, I will be splitting my time between the backcountry and out front for Albies and Dolphin as was the case Saturday taking advantage of the picture perfect weather window giving us great ocean conditions. With the light offshore winds it offered a good opportunity for a smooth run offshore for some quality run and gun Dolphin action with fish up to 10lbs, and better yet, we never saw another boat all day. This type of action should stick with us though the next two months. If you are looking to get in on the fall action email me for available dates. My September is pretty much full, so it is now all about October and November and it would be my suggestion to get in while the gettin’s good. Now that I am back on the water full time my weekly reports will resume flowing on a weekly basis once again.”

New York Fishing Reports
Capt. David Azar from One More Cast Charters checks in with this Lower New York Harbor report:
“THE FALL RUN HAS BEGUN!!! Fishing in the New York Bight has been amazing!  A huge crop of stripers has moved in and they are feeding heavily on the abundant buildup of bait in the area.  The stripers, which have been averaging 25″, are mixed in with bluefish to 9 pounds.  But Dr. Ron Mizrahi was out at the Shrewsbury Rocks on Sunday and reported bigger blues and bigger bass in that area.  Lehman Bros., AIG, and Merrill Lynch were not the only big news this weekend, the really big news was the arrival of the albies on Sunday.  While this captain has yet to get one in the boat (though John Maples came awfully close, see below) Captains John McMurray and Chris Hessert both had banner sessions Sunday and today.  Right now catching a slam is almost a sure thing so if you have been waiting for the albies to show now is the time!
Last Thursday I spent the morning searching far and wide for albies with no luck.  On the way home, at 2:30 p.m., I found the stripers and blues in a favorite spot.  Every drift produced several fish on both flies and artificials.  Fishing alone for about 2 hours I landed close to 20 fish.”

From the North Shore, Bob Giordano has this to say about the week’s action:
“Hey John, still bluefish in and around the harbors. Not showing in any visual way. Most hook ups have been blind casting larger crease flies and gurglers. No news on the Albie/ Bonito front. Our club is having an outing this Sunday with five or six boats running about so hopefully one of our members will find them.
The calender last year had them in around our local points to the sound.  Concerning is the lack of large bunker and even the peanut pods seem to be much thinner then usual. We’ll see how things get rolling as we officially move into Autumn.”

From Montauk, Capt. David Blinken from North Flats Guiding checks in with this report. 
“The blitz continues! That is the title of this weeks fishing report. The falling tide and early mornings rule.
As long as the weather holds up the fishing is off the chart and the fishing seems to recover quickly after a weather event. Bay anchovies are the primary bait. Get out there and revel awesome angling before its too late!” 

And lastly, we’ve got a day by day this week from Capt. Ken Rafferty:
“SEPT 8th…Afternoon…Gene Sills…Fly-fishing.
The water was still a little cloudy from Hanna’s winds but as I headed east from Eastern Plains Point I found clear water and lots of big Bluefish on the surface. There were some Albies slashing through the water but everytime we tied on an Albie flie the Blues would bite it off. Gene was very happy landing a dozen or so of those 12 lb. Bluefish.
SEPT 9th…Morning…Frank and Donald Oconner, brothers…Spin Tackle.
I headed back to Eastern Plains Pt and found cleaner water and some Stripers among the rocks. Both Frank and Don hooked up with 8 to 10 lb. fish for a total of four Stripers. We then spotted a few Albies that were once again mixed in with lots of big Bluefish. Don hooked up first with an Albie…the line screamed out but it was cut off by a Bluefish. We were not able to hook-up with anymore Albies but both anglers landed lots of large Bluefish using surface poppers.
SEPT 10th…Afternoon…Larry Goldman…Fly-fishing.
This would be larry’s first time saltwater fly-fishing.
Today I headed out to the land of giants and to my surprise I had big Bluefish finning on the surface. On Larry’s third cast his flie landed right ahead of a fish, he stripped once and it was devoured immediately and the fight was on. This Blue took off and cleared the water five times just like a Tarpon, blowing out it’s gills while tail walking and shaking it’s head trying to lose the hook. About 10 to 15 minutes later we had it aboard, it weighed in at 14 lbs.
Larry landed four more Blues the same way but most of them were in the 10 lb class. Before heading back I made one stop at the tip of Bostwick Pt. and Larry was able to land a small Striper of about 6 lbs.
SEPT 11th…Morning…John DeMeritt…Spin Tackle.
We had a nasty morning with 15 mph east winds and so I headed into Cherry Harbor to stay sheltered and I also knew there had been large schools of full sized Bunker there for about five weeks and when we were about a half mile from the island I spotted the first school that measured about a hundred feet long by 50 feet across. We could see large fish feeding on them from below but couldn’t make out what they were. I gave John a rod with a lead-head jig, the kind you use with a rubber slugo except we didn’t put on a slugo.
John cast out and retrieved as fast as he could and would snag a Bunker. As soon as he had a Bunker hooked it would attract the attention of the predators below and sure enough, Slam! …fish on. These were those large 12 lb. Bluefish eating off the ball of Bunker down deep. John kept repeating this and kept getting hooked up with Blue after Blue. I had tried this same thing a few weeks ago seeing large Stripers below the Bunker on a calm day with full sun overhead and calm water but they would take my Bunker, they wanted the fish that were in the ball.
SEPT 11th…Afternoon…Jerry Lodge…Fly-fishing.
The wind had died down to about three mph and so I headed out to Montauk Point and in forty minutes we were surrounded by False Albacore and schools of Stripers all on the surface under the light house.
It was just to much for words as fish after fish was landed by Jerry. The Stripers were all in the 10 lb. class and the Albies were 6 to 7 lb. class. By five thirty pm. we were back in East Hampton. Jerry said he was exhausted and stated he landed 8 Albies and 14 Stripers plus 2 Bluefish.
SEPT 12th…Full-day…Michael Salzhauer…Fly-fishing.
As we headed to Montauk in Michael’s 28 ft Edgewater I told him that if the conditions were right, be prepared to fish until you drop.
It was a little sloppy with a south wind of about 15 to 20 mph but it was worth it. I think it was the best day of fishing either one of us had ever seen. It started out with schools of Striped Bass everywhere you looked. They were right along side the boat….you could reach down with a gaff and lift them into the boat if you wanted to. Michael had landed at least twenty of these Stripers in a row and had to take a few breaks in between so I would grab a rod and land a few. By 11:00 am the Stripers had gathered into small schools and were scattered but not gone. Then the Albies came slashing through the water eating everything you offered them. One after another Michael was hooked up with these speedsters as the line screamed out of the reel. Every once in a while he would hook-up and know it wasn’t an Albie as the rod tip would shake, Bluefish. Michael had six grand slams that we know of….but who’s counting…lolol.
We were back in East Hampton by five pm. Hosing down the boat.
SEPT 13th…Morning…Stan Warshawsky…Fly-fishing.
Since I don’t have the boat at Montauk I have been leaving from East Hampton in the Pathfinder. The 27 ft Rambo is having work done on the engine.
Stan and I were under the light house at 9:00 am as he was landing his first 10 Lb. Striper. The conditions on the water were a little better then the previous day but you had to be careful in the 22 Pathfinder with it’s low gunnels. Stan managed to land 7 Stripers in the 8 to 10 lb. class…. three Bluefish and 2 Albies by 11:30.
SEPT 14th….took the day off…no fishing.
SEPT 15th…30 mph winds from Hurricane Ike…no fishing.”

Connecticut and Rhode Island Fishing Reports
From the Eastern Connecticut area, Capt. Sandy Noyes from Rumrunner Charters checks in with this report:
“It’s been a busy week on the Sound for us. There hasn’t been any consistent action around Watch Hill and other local areas so we’ve been going over to Montauk. Every day has brought something different. One day The albies are in thick and hungry. Another day there are massive schools of Stripers.Everyday brings large schools of Bluefish. Some days its a little bit of everything. The water temps and bait are holding pretty steady. Not much news from the Rhode Island beaches although there is some bait starting to show.”

Massachusetts Fishing Reports
Capt. David Rimmer checks in with a Newburyport report:
“The fall is when anglers should expect to see schools of surface feeding striped bass in the estuaries, as well as along the beaches and rocky shorelines, and finally it is starting to happen up here north of Beantown. My own trips combined with reports from other guides and friends are all suggesting that the fall run is underway. The bait - silversides mostly, not much of any peanut bunker yet - has been around for weeks but you did well to find a few bass and bluefish until the last week or so. Bluefish do not seem as abundant now but there has been a good push of new fish recently, mostly in the 18-24 inch range, although several days ago I got on a school of fish in the 30-40 inch range that were feeding up top. Now that is good stuff! Up this way we hope to keep fishing until mid-October, so with any luck and decent weather, all signs are pointing to some good bass fishing for the rest of the season.”

Wow!  On that note, I’m gonna sign off.  See ya on the water…

Capt. John McMurray

Virginia Fishing Report: Covering the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, Inshore and Virginia Offshore Fishing
Wind, wind and more wind is keeping most anglers inshore. The fishing action will wane a bit until after the blow. But not all action comes to a halt with turbulent and dirty water. The red drum species thrives in this environment. And with that said, the long awaited big red drum run off the Little Island fishing pier is here. True to form, this run usually kicks off with the first stiff North Easterly blow in September. Pier anglers are hoisting up bull reds from the end of the pier, with the best action still to come. Red drum are also providing action off the Hungar’s Creek and Cape Charles areas. Mike Neely of Richmond released a nice 48-inch bull he caught near buoy 36A on cut bait this week.

Puppy drum are on the loose within the shallows, inlets and creeks, as well as the surf off Sandbridge, and the Eastern Shore Barrier islands. Anywhere within Lynnhaven River is a great place for pups right now. Long Bay Pointe Bait and Tackle reports that juvenile reds of all sizes are hitting most lures, live bait, and cut bait.

Fall speckled trout catches are inching up the charts with good numbers of fish in Hungar’s Creek, and Rudee and Lynnhaven Inlets. John Outten of Machipongo weighed in an eight and a half-pound beauty while casting in Nassawadox Creek.

Decent spot are pouring into the lower bay area, with catches scattered in all the usual haunts. The local piers are excellent places to get in on the spot action. Look for the biggest spot on the Hampton Bar, off the Little Creek Jetties, and all the lower bay inlets. Horse croaker in the 2-pound range are lurking in deeper areas around the lower bay channels, inlets, and the Bay Bridge Tunnel, preparing for their southern migration.

Big cobia are lingering on buoys along the ocean front and near the mouth of the bay, with fish in excess of 50-pounds falling to jigs and live bait.
King mackerel have been scarce recently with the dirty water, but this action should improve into October. Spanish mackerel are still an excellent choice along Sanbridge and Dam Neck in about 25 feet of water. Schools of false albacore have been spotted in close to the beach, which can prove very sporting on light tackle. A hook-up with a large shark is also a possibility in these same areas.

The Flounder action took a break this week, but will heat back up as anglers find cleaner water. With the wind coming from the North East this week, anglers can drift the protected bayside Eastern Shore area with little exertion. Chris at Chris’ Bait and Tackle reports that folks are finding some keepers, with some fish pushing 8.5-pounds drifting off the Kiptopeke area. Once boats can get out, the offshore wreck flatfish action is a good alternative for an easy catch with strip baits bounced over the structure.
Expect nice sea bass as a by-catch, along with a few triggers. Amberjack are still available on local wrecks, and will remain on the southern towers through October.

Schoolie rockfish are hitting offerings all over the lower bay, and will only become more active as the water temperature drops.

The unpredictable weather is keeping many blue water anglers closer to shore, but improving tuna action is waiting once they can negotiate a decent day. A few larger class yellowfin are available near the Norfolk Canyon.
Wahoo will continue to slam spreads for several more weeks, while bailer and gaffer dolphin are still a good backup. The marlin bite is still on when boats can reach them.
Until next week, good luck fishing!

Julie
Dr. Julie Ball
IGFA Representative,

Luckily we have some reports from the Virginia Saltwater Review covering this region.
Chincoteague -  According to Donna at Captain Bob’s, flounder have started biting again. Several keepers were caught in the Chincoteague Channel between markers 23 and 25. The bridges were hot with striped bass at night (probably because of the full moon). A red drum was reportedly caught off of Assateague Island in the surf, and a 6- pound flounder was caught there last week, as well. Several striped bass have been reported from under the drawbridge as well. Snapper bluefish were around, and a few kingfish were landed from in the ocean. Northeast winds will probably keep most anglers home during the weekend. Captain Bob’s will switch to its fall hours this week.

Wachapreague - According to staff at the Wachapreague Marina, numerous dolphin were found at the Norfolk Canyon along with a whopping 272-pound blue marlin. The dolphin ranged from 5 to 20 pounds. Most offshore fishing has been better past 40 fathoms. Inshore, staff reports that flounder fishing is fair.

At Captain Zed’s, anglers continued to catch flounder and croaker near Paramour and Cedar islands, which were hot spots for the season. A few spot and grey trout were landed, and there were reports of small red drum sightings. Offshore action in the canyons has been productive with dolphin and wahoo, and wreck fishing was doing really well with black sea bass.

Virginia’s Middle Bay Fishing Report
by Jerry Thrash From Patriot Charters and Queens Creek Outfitters
Jerry writes: “Not much to report this week due to the lack of fishing effort.  Spot are said to be still way up the Rappahannock so we should still have a good run coming this way as the water begins to cool. Speckled trout are becoming more active as the fall run appears near. The creeks are holding medium to large croaker, small spot and specks, as well as small stripers.”

Did you know that nearly 80% of ocean pollution originates from land-based activities.

Did you know outside of Europe and North America over 80% of sewage enters the coastal ocean untreated. Scary huh!